▪ Usually, when I start skipping weeks here it’s because I’m too busy and/or traveling. Although I am, as always, looking at an overly ambitious to-do list and an overly crowded travel schedule, those aren’t what has kept me from writing as much lately. A lot of writers I know have spoken about running into … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Too Many Words Edition
▪ We got our first significant snowfall of the winter in Ann Arbor last Sunday—just over 11 inches—and it has snowed a little bit more nearly every day since. In the Mid-Atlantic, of course, a snow accumulation in double digits would bring cities to a standstill; here, though, nobody seems at all fazed. I was … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Snow Globe Edition
▪ I think Halloween is a fun holiday. I haven’t dressed up in a long time, but I like seeing the costumes that people devise, and who doesn’t enjoy handing out candy to (mostly appreciative) children? As an adult, though, I haven’t lived anywhere with active trick-or-treating: I was either in grad student housing (Yale … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Leftover Halloween Candy Edition
▪ I turned 34 in the middle of October, meaning that I’m now in the last year of ever qualifying for any “____ under 35” lists. Getting older doesn’t, in and of itself, bother me, although I have been having a few more “Whoa, [incredibly successful person] is only X years old, what have I … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Not a Kid Anymore Edition
▪ I spent last Tuesday and Wednesday visiting Penn State, where history professors David Atwill and Kate Merkel-Hess (a fellow UCI History graduate) had invited me to talk with their grad students about getting a PhD and then going into a non-academic career. I also gave a presentation on the Zhang Leping biography that I’ve … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Nittany Lions Edition
I’ve made the executive decision (because it’s my blog and therefore I’m the executive) to abandon the pretense that these “Weekly Wanderings” posts are always going to be published on Fridays, because the past month has shown me I can only manage that 50% of the time. So now my goal is to get them … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Failure and Success Edition
Delayed because I spent the majority of last week moping around with the worst cold I can remember having in years (I’m mostly better now), and because the first item was supposed to be its own blog post but the damn thing just didn’t sound right and yesterday I finally had to admit that the … Continue reading Weekly Wanderings: Delayed October 7 Edition
